Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow and North Dakota paleontologist Tyler Lyson will discuss the lives and the demise of dinosaurs on the Northwest Art Center lecture series Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The lecture series will change from its usual location for this event only; Lyson's lecture will be in Hoffman Hall in the Cyril Moore Science Building.

Lyson's talk, "Dinosaur Biology and Paleoecology: How dinosaurs lived and why they went extinct," is a part of the Darwin Day observance Feb. 13-15. MSU's Darwin Day activities focus on the relevance of evolution to everyday life, with presentations from the humanities, science and art. A complete listing of Darwin Day activities can be found at http://msubiology.info.

Lyson is best known as the discoverer of the dinosaur fossil named "Dakota." This fossil, a mummified hadrosaur or "duck-billed" dinosaur, is distinguished by the exquisite preservation of its skin and other soft tissues. This kind of fossil is exceedingly rare, and Dakota is likely the most important dinosaur discovery of the past 20 years.

Lyson's paleontological work in southwestern North Dakota has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times and on Good Morning America. Lyson is also co-founder of the Marmarth Research Foundation. He received his doctorate from Yale University in 2012 and is now a Peter Buck postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to his dinosaur work, Lyson is an expert on fossil turtles and the evolution of the turtle shell. Feb. 15, Lyson will present "Origins of Turtles and Their Shell" at 1 p.m. in Moore 213.

The lecture and all Darwin Day events are free and open to the public. An informal reception will follow the Feb. 14 evening lecture.

The Northwest Art Center lecture series is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about Northwest Art Center activities, call 858-3264.